The Purdue Men’s Lacrosse program finished the 2022 season 9-6, their best record since 2016 where they also finished 9-6. That year, they won their third GRLC Championship and went to the National Tournament in Irvine.
Head Coach: Dan Sahm (5th Season)
Overall Record: 9-6
Conference Record: 6-3 (3-2 East)
Returners: Ryan Schellin (44G, 17A) – Jared Meltzner (25G, 29A) – Mike Kuske (61 GB)
Losses: Nick Korell (32G, 18A) – Andrew Golden (Journalist) – Brad Backlund (13G, 3A)
Newcomers: Connor Glosner (31G, 8A @ RPI)
They started the season in Nashville with two close losses to Vanderbilt and Auburn. This trip featured a dominating 17-1 win over Illinois State, followed by a 17-1 win over Central Michigan two weeks later. After going out to Pittsburgh and losing by one goal, the Boilermakers went down to Morgantown, and beat West Virginia by one goal which started a four-game win streak.
The Boilermakers beat Illinois by eight on the road, proceeded to drop a twenty burger on Butler in Indianapolis, followed by a comeback win over Western Michigan. The next week they lost to Michigan State in OT and the following week they beat a solid DII opponent in Grand Valley State at home, but followed that up with a loss to a very good Miami (OH) in OT. The loss to Miami (OH) meant their last game against rival Indiana would determine if they made the UMLC Tournament. Purdue was able to pull out a huge 12-4 win on senior night to send them to Minneapolis, the Vegas of the Midwest. Their five regular season loses were lost by a combined eight goals.
Drawing the No.2 seed in the East in their third straight UMLC Tournament, they played Iowa State in the first round. They handled the Cyclones convincingly to advance to the Final Four against Minnesota, the team they lost to in the 2019 UMLC Finals. The Boilermakers lost 12-9, to end their 2022 season.
Despite losing many great players, Purdue have a number of great lacrosse players returning. This includes their starting goalie, the entire starting and second defense line, an LSM duo, their faceoff guy, key defensive midfielders, two starting attackman, and four midfielders that started at some point during the 2022 season.
For All-UMLC players, Ryan Schellin (First Team Attack), Mike Kuske (Second Team Defense), Michael Gustafson (Third Team Midfield, Jake Kartz (Third Team Deense), Blake Ellenwood (Honorable Mention Defensive Midfield), Brayden Webb (Honorable Mention Goalie), Parker Davenport (Honorable Mention LSM), and Jared Meltzner (Honorable Mention Attack) will all be back. Every single returning player played significant minutes at some point during the season.
The Boilermakers gained twenty new players, thanks to the recruiting efforts of multiple players on the team. Some standouts from the new class include grad transfer, Connor Glosner who led RPI in goals last year, Jake Lemieux who was a faceoff man for the Indiana High School All-Star game, along with many other great players.
To start the season, they will take their first ever plane trip to Dallas to take on SMU, Arkansas, and reigning LSA DI Champion, TCU. They will play a tough out-of-conference scheduleb and hope to make it to their fourth National Tournament in Purdue Men’s Lacrosse program history.
